


Rhythm Battle (Remix)

by CringePhase



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Beat saber, Dorky Pals for Life Club, Friends as Family, Friendship, Gen, Inaccurate Video Game Hacking/Modding, Male-Female Friendship, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27666332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CringePhase/pseuds/CringePhase
Summary: Donatello hears about a new game in the Mallcade and invites April to check it out.Or, the Dorky Pals for Life Club goes VR.
Relationships: Donatello & April O'Neil (TMNT)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Rhythm Battle (Remix)

Everything was good in the world for one miss April O'Neil. It was a comfortable and sunny day, the weekend was approaching, she got her math test grade back with a B+ that her parents would be happy about, and she had plans with her dorkiest resident genius. And, the bell signaling the end of the school day had just rung.

April quit the idle tapping on her desk and rushed with the group of kids to the lockers to grab only what was essential for the weekend and finally get out of dodge. She was rushing out the front doors, seconds from freedom when--

"April! Hey! Wait up!"

\--a voice not belonging to aforementioned resident genius called out.

"Dale!" April strained a smile. She didn't dislike the boy by any means; she wasn't ignorant to his little crush on her either. They got along in passing, fellow weirdos have to stick together after all. But that was all they were. Perhaps when he gets over it and moves on they could get along more platonically, but until then…

She had to avoid him, for both of their sanities.

"Hey, so, Friday… No school over the weekend." The boy started awkwardly.

"Yeah. Just like...every Friday… Uh,"

"--Any plans? We could hang out?" Dale boldly continued, smiling hopefully at her.

"Uh, actually, I do have plans. I promised my…..uh…. Little brother... I'd hang with him this weekend." _Every weekend._ “Sooo….Bye-”

"Aww, I didn't know you had a little brother!" Dale actually seemed enamored by this fact, "The little guy can be invited too! Come hang out with the cool big kids!"

April paled, but appreciated the cover story being basically handed to her without the trial and error--of course he would assume she had a much younger sibling, having never seen a second O'Neil around high school. And, of course, it would be very easy to assume her “kid” brother would want to hang out with the “big” kids. Well, in all honesty Donnie probably would’ve wanted to hang out with the big kids if he really was as young as Dale was assuming but, that’s beyond the point.

"Um," she started, clicking her tongue, mind blank.

Her phone rang. The perfect distraction. She barely got the "Hello" out before yelling exploded from the speaker. She pulled the phone away on reflex but managed to gather a “APRIL HELP EMERGENCY” and “UNSAFE WORK PRACTICE” before the call ended mid-scream.

“Uh,” Dale looked at the phone in her hand awkwardly. “Rain check?”

“Uh….yeaaahh. Gotta go.” April quickly took her opening and jogged off of the school campus. Rounding the corner of the block she quickly ducked into the nearest alleyway. Immediately she slowed her pace and crossed her arms. “ _Really_ , Donnie?? Unsafe work practice was _all_ you had???”

The so-called “little kid brother” in question immediately shot forward from his casual lean against the wall and scoffed at her critique. He was wearing his favorite purple hoodie as his human disguise. “Excuse you, do not underestimate the importance of lab safety, unless you _want_ me to go blind.”

“You’re already blind, contacts.”

“Well! Perhaps next time I shall leave you to your awkward high school... ‘friendships’ instead of creating a distraction like I _promised_ I would--I have yet to hear a ‘Thank you Donnie’, by the by--and go to the mall without you.” Donnie channeled the most dramatically unpleasant tone he could, but no amount of acting expertise could wipe the smirk from his face.

April snickered at the scene, rolling her eyes and elbowing his covered arm. “Yeah, yeah, _thank you Donnie._ ” She led their pilgrimage to the aforementioned mall, “I don’t know why I asked _you_ anyway.”

“Ugh,” Donnie made a big show of rolling his eyes as he trailed after his friend, “the feeling is mutual.”

April quickly elbowed him again at that, a little more harshly. Donnie finally dropped the act as he rubbed his assaulted arm, looking over to make sure that he accurately estimated the tone he meant to portray--judging by April’s good natured smile and laughter, he was perfectly understood.

“Hey, not that I don’t like being in our own little club, but where’s the boys?” April asked as they exited the alley, Donnie pulling up his hood and stuffing his hands in the hoodie pockets.

“Mikey went to go hang out with _Todd_ of all people, so I can’t be seen with him for the next twenty-four hours,” Donnie enunciated the word twenty-four to add emphasis, “Raphael wasn’t in the mood for the mall today, and ‘Nardo ate the last pop-tart this morning despite my declaration of dibs and therefore earned his uninvite.”

“You are so _petty_ , and I love that about you Dee.”

“Remember that next time I kindly inquire the whereabouts of my beloved creations that mean very much to me, despite knowing all along of your innocence.”

“Right. I take it back, you’re annoying.”

The rest of the walk to the mall consisted of similar conversation; of two best friends trading both jabs and laughter as they weaved through New York. Friendship had many definitions, but for them it was simple: friendship was a weirdo and a ninja turtle with simultaneously too much and very little in common. In no time the duo had crossed the threshold of the mall front doors and Donatello took the lead as he beelined to the Mallcade excitedly. The sounds of winners and losers alike could be heard long before they entered the carpeted establishment.

“Sooo, what was it you got your little nerd heart set on again?” April asked, glancing around at the usual activity of the Mallcade.

“April my dearest friend, prepare to be enthralled and amazed!” Donnie raved dramatically, full with sweeping arms gesturing to the promise as he led them deeper into the Mallcade, passing by their normal usual games without so much as a sideways glance.

_Huh. Must be big._ April thought, as they usually have a schedule in place to maximize their fun potential--Donnie’s work, obviously.

“In just moments we will feast our eyes on the innovation of the future, the first in the line of many kings to lead our technological endeavors, the beacon in which lights the way for all virtual reality rhythm games that may follow behind--”

“Pffff,” April snickered. As always, Donnie’s enthusiasm was infectious and brightened the mood of those who saw it, and now that April had an inkling as to the subject of his excitement… “Hope you don’t have your heart set on _winning_ , Donnie. My rhythm is just as good as yours.”

“Refer to the gamer tag, O'Neil. You are going down.”

The duo ended their journey mere feet away from the neon glow of their chosen machine of play. The start up screen teased the beats of some fast paced, high-rhythm music and April eyed the two headsets and pairs of controllers hooked to the screen. Honestly, April was surprised they managed to catch it free--her hours spent cross-referencing Mall activity data with Donnie paid off. They had the whole machine to themselves.

Donnie caught her wrist as she began to reach for a controller. She raised her eyebrow at him before groaning at the sight of his dorky red and blue goggles already over his eyes.

“Just give me-”

“No.”

“It’ll be worth it-”

“Donnie, c’mon, I really don’t want another Albearto situation on my hands!”

Judging by the tilt of his eyebrows, it was evident that Donnie was glaring at the mention. “Not that I recall what you’re talking about, but it won’t be like that. Just a little, tiny, insignificant hack.”

April leveled her glare at him.

“Not a total teardown. I promise.” Donnie did sound as genuine as he possibly could.

April sighed loudly and he quickly perked up.

“I promise!!” He repeated, already sitting at the machine with the spider shell unscrewing the side panel. “All I have to do is spot solder this,” he held up a small circuit board the size of a wallet, “state of the art Donatello-brand circuitry to this!-” he inserted his entire upper body into the machine to do his upgrade, uncaring of the few arcade patrons who may pass by, “oh while I’m in here I could--”

“Donnie. No. You said one hack.”

“Annoyed long-winded sigh of suffering, fine.” He pulled himself out of the machine and his mechanical arms began screwing the panel back where it was. “Next time!”

“No! Now c’mon, show me what you did!”

The kids quickly strapped the virtual reality headsets onto their heads, leaving their eyewear in April’s backpack so as to not be crushed by the eyewear required for the game. They each armed themselves with their dual controllers--one for the right hand and one for the left. And, it was ready to game, to compete, and to have fun.

In the virtual world, which at the moment was just a great expanse of darkness and fog, April took a quick glance to her friend and had to laugh at the sight. Of course Donnie modded player models into the game. She looked at a polygonal version of her favorite genius, honestly it didn’t look half bad. She looked down at her hands, clicking buttons to flex the fingers. They looked just like hers, albeit a little stiffer. She bet on Donnie’s side he could see her full model, complete with her go-to hairstyle.

She really did have the best friend in the world.

As she marvelled at the personal touches, Donnie quickly flipped through the menus with memorized ease and stopped to display the first reason for his hack.

“Behold! The complete library of the modding community! Every player-made map ever uploaded is now available to us, so our dance battle shall be glorious!”

April’s reaction was instantaneous, Donnie could see her playermodel jump (a little jittery though--an upgrade for next time) and her arms pump into the air. And yes, of course he remembered her hair poofs. 

“Alright you are on _fire_ today, Dee!”

“Which is why _I_ get to pick the first song.”

“Wha-oh, fine. You earned it” April laughed, Donnie had already brought up the screen into the VR space and was typing up the song of his latest obsession.

The game started up before April could get a good look at the song or stats, but she gave a quick wager to herself that it was going to end up being dubstep and, _yep there it was_ April thought with an eyeroll--the thing her avatar could not replicate.

April had seen the videos of this game before, after it was made commercially available (not to mention being friends with THE biggest tech geek in New York--he had a trophy to prove it) it was hard to have not heard of it. Even without those facts, curiosity guided her to look up videos and see what the fuss was about. So, she liked to think she had a decent grasp on what she was about to handle.

Red and blue blocks came at her--she assumed Donnie was seeing his own--and she hit the blocks with the coordinating red and blue swords in her virtual hands. She couldn’t help but feel like it was a little faster than she expected--her untrained brain had a hard time remembering something as simple as left and right in the short response time she was given to hit the block, not to mention the arrows that should probably be followed, but she could manage. It just took a little practice, right?

There was a short moment of peace as the song built suspense, which already April was thankful for. This wasn’t so bad. Even if it began a little difficult. She could get the hand of this.

And then the wave of blocks appeared over the virtual horizon. It was endless, expansive, tightly packed, and _so not a beginner’s level song_.

“Donnie!!!”

“Yes, April, what may be the issue?” Donatello asked overly-innocently.

“Ohhhh you are so in for it ‘Tello!” April threatened as the blocks washed over her. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She swung her controllers to hit as many blocks as she could; out of curiosity she kept the combo in the corner of her eye, watching it rise and then reset to zero every time she missed a beat. She thought she saw a 50 streak once or twice, and felt a rush of pride.

The speed and intensity held strong in its entirety; it was an act of mercy that the song ended five minutes later. It felt like an eternity, as if time moved at a different rate in the game. Their scores graced the screen for comparison as she collapsed onto the ground, lungs heaving. She quickly slipped the headset off and looked over to see Donnie doing the same.

“Ok, ok, you jerk, time out.” April panted. “This is more work than I thought.”

“What’s… wrong… O'Neill?” Donnie was more out of breath than she, even. “Thought… you could… huh?”

April followed his eye to the screen and, first of all, _whoa_ she didn’t realize how much of the virtual world she accepted as reality. Was the ceiling always that low? Oh and she got a whole letter grade above Donnie _on his own song choice_.

“Ha HA!” April cheered before stopping to continue to fill her lungs with air.

Their scores were terrible, really. Two fresh beginners jumping straight into... _expert plus???_ A choice made either by a fool or by an overachiever.

_Or made to mess with your best friend whom you invited here_.

“What happened, Donnie? Thought you could out rhythm _me?_ ”

“Well, yes, again refer to the username, but that’s not what happened.” Donnie was looking at the left and right controllers in his fists with a small amount of frustration. “It’s...clunkier than I imagined.”

“Clunkier? I thought it played pretty well?” April turned to watch him give a test flick of a controller.

“No, it’s not… wait, one second. I have another idea.”

“Donnie noooo, don’t upgrade it just--”

“No no, no software modding, just…” Donnie’s spider arms emerged and handed him his tools and something from storage and he quickly went to work, sparks already flying from his new project.

April sighed and kept a look out for the manager or anyone who may report them. It was thankfully still dead today, honestly April was starting to think there was something else diverting the public’s attention elsewhere. How could it be so barren?

“Done!” Donnie held up his handiwork: a….thing.

“That’s a great….” April dropped the act, “Alright I got nothing you’re gonna have to tell me.”

Donnie was already outfitting the strange tube to the controllers, one on each side. He could feel the confusion radiating off of her. “Trust me, April, it’s going to be _great_. I saw a video of this earlier and wanted to try it out eventually, but the dual mode just doesn’t feel natural to me.”

April squinted at him, “Dual mode? How does the two controllers not come natura--oh. _Oh_ you nerd!”

“This is the superior way to play, April I can feel it already!” Donnie declared over her laughter. “Pick your song, my dual wielding opponent! I am outfitted for war!”

“Wait, wait, the arrows, Donnie!”

“Oh, right.” With a couple of taps to his wrist screen his side of the start screen no longer had arrows. “Is that fair? The maps are designed for dualies, so you get the game as it’s intended but I get the game, upgraded, with no arrows for the bo.”

April rolled her eyes and this time Donnie _could_ see it. “Sure, sure. I think you just made the game harder for you anyway. For the aesthetic.”

“Aesthetic is a valid motivation for most but I assure this was all done for comfort. Pick your song.”

The duo strapped back into the virtual world and April dragged the menu onto her side of their virtual space, pondering her choice of song as she flicked through to the search function. She watched the cursor blink as she hummed in thought--she knew of a lot of songs she’d like to try eventually but she did also want to give Donnie a taste of his own medicine. So she’d have to pick something with pepper, some pizazz, some--

“Currently dying of old age over here April! You send me music recs all the time, what’s up?”

“Nothing! Just...oh, okay!” She quickly typed up the song she wanted and hit Expert Plus as fast as she could.

She shook out her hands as the song started up, she could see Donnie--well, his playermodel--do the same and readjust his grip on his D.I.Y. staff modification. There was a moment of calm as the song began, blocks generating in the distance and coming at them with the same speed as the previous song.

“Wha-Hey!” Donnie gasped.

“Shut it, Donald.” She hissed, with a smile. She knew what was coming.

“You said--” Donnie was stifling his laughter as he swung to hit notes.

“I know--”

“--you didn’t like--”

“Shut up, Donnie.” April slashed through a surprisingly difficult maneuver.

“--this music!”

April groaned as loudly as she could to further the point of how _annoying_ her very best friend whom she loved very much was. Donatello, who knew all of this, only laughed louder. She _knew_ he couldn’t resist a comment on her song choice but it was catchy! So what if she spent many a text message conversation roasting the top charts artists? So what if she allegedly said she didn’t like this type of music? Could one group be exempt from her claims? Just one? They were _catchy!_

And, more importantly, fast enough to give Donnie a run for his money. Out of the corner of her eye she could see his double-bladed staff swing in blurred arcs as he tried to hit all the notes. There was _no_ way that modding the controllers would actually make a difference, she had victory in the bag, two for two.

When the song ended, she realized she had to eat her words. It was only by a small margin, but Donnie did much better this round than the one before and brought home the gold for himself.

"May I extend an invitation to you to eateth thine words?" Donnie taunted, pointing at his friend's virtual form with his virtual weapon.

April, while she was looking forward to having another point over her turtle friend, laughed goodnaturedly and dropped her own weapons in an act of defeat. They didn't go far, dangling from the straps around her wrist, but it was symbolic.

"You got me. I don't know how you actually did better on your weird homebrew mode but you earned that win."

"Actually I think this is much easier for me. Sure, the note placements didn't make sense sometimes, but it just feels better."

April hummed in thought. "If you say so. Still not going down without a fight. C’mon, your turn.”

They had an epic battle that required neither real weapons nor a real world to hold it. Song after song they racked up their points against each other, neither making the move to lower the level nor pick an easier song. They were out for blood--virtual blood, of course--and competitiveness held them to their pride.

Forty-five minutes later they had to come to the realization that despite their claims they were, in fact, evenly matched. The game would never end as long as they maintained their near-even point comparison, and given that the game was basically exercise in disguise it was getting more and more exhausting to swing and dodge virtual blocks. As they recovered on the ground in front of the game machine, the neon lights washing over their corpse-like forms, the Dorky Pals for Life Club (“Please April we are not calling ourselves that.” “Too late. It’s in your contact info.” “You are. So annoying.”) called for a truce. Their battle could be picked up at a later time, and together they could hone their skills until they were worthy of expert plus.

A phone ring cut through the shared mutual silence and Donnie groaned as he reached to answer it, putting it on speaker so he wouldn’t have to exert more energy to hold it to his head.

“You are conversing with Donatello.”

“Donnie where are you?” Raph asked over the sounds of a clang and a yell, “Silverfish mutants are attacking the food court in the mall close to April’s school--you said you were coming here today right? Come help us!”

_Well, that explained why no one was here. We didn’t even pass the food court on the way in._ Donnie felt the exhaustion deep in his body, already predicting how sore his arms would be tomorrow.

“....Uh, yeah actually we went to a different mall.” 

“Oh… really?” Raph sounded surprised. “Which one?”

“....uhhh South….Saber….Street.” Donnie elbowed April when she snickered.

“...I’ve never heard of--”

“I do not deserve this interrogation and frankly you sound busy so I will let you return to your fighting, see you at home bye.” Donatello hung up before Raph could even get a complete syllable out.

Their brothers will be fine, both Dorky Pals decided. Right now they are exhausted and ready to order a pizza and go home to watch some relaxing TV and do nothing else...well, maybe also secretly make a list of songs they were to weaponize the next time they cross blades in the virtual field. And also invent new kinds of game modes to mix things up with. Maybe even begin a talley document to keep track of all of their songs and wins.

There had to be a winner eventually, after all. April already decided she was gonna be busy with this every free weekend from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> Donnie, googling how to lightheartedly trash talk your friend: Ah, classic referral to the last name. Just Like Sport.  
> \-----  
> Uh, I think AO3 "ate" the first time I posted this. Strange. Anyway, asked on Tumblr for some quick lighthearted requests and ideas and the People have spoken: We want more Dorky Pals for Life content.
> 
> I've been curious about writing video game description/commentary and I've also had the "Donnie plays Beat Saber" idea in my head for a while so this was a perfect match to make. 
> 
> Thank y'all for reading!~


End file.
